Articles of hose and methods and means for making them



M y 26, 1964 c. F. MANGER ETAL 3,134,250

ARTICLES OF HOSE AND METHODS AND MEANS FOR MAKING THEM Filed Aug. 7,1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 X x a y 6, 1964 c. F. MANGER ETAL 3,134,250

ARTICLES 0F HOSE AND METHODS AND MEANS FOR MAKING THEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Aug. 7, 1962 PIC-3.3

M y 26, 1954 c. F. MANGER ETAL 3,134,250

ARTICLES OF HOSE AND METHODS AND MEANS FOR MAKING THEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 3HHHU 3% Filed Aug. 7, 1962 United States Patent 3,134,250 ARTICLES 01*"HGSE AND METHODS AND MEAN FOR MAKHJG THEM Charles Frederick Manger andWilliam Arthur Jayes,

Leicester, England, assignors to The Bentley Engineering Company LimitedFiled Aug. 7, 1962, er. No. 215,359

'7 Qlairns. (Cl. 56-472) This invention is for improvements in orrelating to articles of hose and methods and means for making them andhas for one of its objects to provide an anti-ravel welt having animproved appearance as compared with those previously produced.

In the normal manner of forming an anti-ravel welt such as is providedon mens and youths stockings and socks, and often known as a roll welt,the knitting of the welt is performed with the needles set up in rib andplain needle beds as for 1 x l rib fabric and. while all needles takethe yarn at the first course of knitting those in one of the needle.beds merely hold it and are caused then to miss the yarn for severalcourses and afterwards to take the yarn and knit it in a later course atthe conclusion of the welt. This results in long loops being formed ineither the rib or the plain wales, depending on whether a normal welt ora reverse welt (for a turn down top) is being formed. The long loopsstretch over a number of courses at which the yarn is floated across thewales containing them, and they tend to draw the courses of the welttogether. When such a welt is subjected to widthwise stretch there is amarked tendency for holes or openings to appear at widthwise spacedintervals in the fabric namely in the wales of the long loops near thepoints at which such loops are knitted to a subsequent course. Suchholes or openings tend to remain and give rise to unsightliness when thefabric again becomes relaxed. The invention seeks to provide a weltconstruction in which this disadvantage is largely or wholly avoided.

In accordance with the invention there is provided an article of hosehaving an anti-ravel welt formed by a group of successive courses of 1 x1 rib fabric in which alternate wales (i.e. wales knitted by needles ofthe same needle bed) have held loops formed in the course at the outeredge of the welt and tuck loops formed in a more inward course knittedon to oppositely facing loops in a course at the inner edge of the welt.It is found that the combined effect of forming a tuck loop and knittingthis along with the normal held loop on to a reversely knitted stitch atthe inner edge of the welt a closer fabric results which avoidssubstantially or completely the tendency for holes or openings todevelop in the region of the welt fabric. The tuck loops may be formedin the course immediately adjacent to that in which the held loops areformed or if desired at a course separated therefrom by one or moreintervening courses.

Preferably in carrying out the invention the inner edge of the welt isformed by a course in which every loop is caused to face oppositely tothe next loop in the same wale contained in the welt.

The improved welt may be formed on a circular knitting machine of theopposed co-axial needle cylinder type by a method in accordance with theinvention which comprises the steps of knitting an initial welt courseon needles set out as for knitting '1 x 1 rib fabric, knitting aplurality of subsequent courses in which the needle of one cylinder formnormal knitted loops and the needles of the other cylinder whilstholding their initial loops form tuck loops in at least one course andmiss the yarn in the remainder of such subsequent courses, theneffecting a transference of needles in which those needles "ice 2carrying tuck loops are all transferred to the opposite cylinder, andperforming a course of normal knitting on all of the needles.Conveniently in carrying out the method the transference of needlesconsists of a reverse transfer in which the needles other than thosecarrying tuck loops are also transferred from one cylinder to the other.This causes the rib and plain Wales to be interchanged so that when anormal 1 x 1 rib top is then knitted the rib wales will continue fromplain wales in the welt and the plain wales will continue from rib walesin the welt.

The improved welt construction may be formed on a circular knittingmachine of the opposed co-axial needle cylinder type having independentneedles and having mechanism for controlling the needles whereby aninitial welt course may be formed in 1 x 1 rib fabric structure withloops knitted on the needles of one cylinder and held on the needles ofthe other cylinder, whereafter a plurality of courses are knitted withthe first mentioned needles performing normal knitting and the secondmentioned needles each forming at least one tuck loop and missing theyarn during the remainder of such courses,

and for then causing the last mentioned needles to be transferred to theopposite cylinder, and thereupon causing a normal course of knitting tobe performed on all of the needles. Conveniently the mechanism isarranged to perform a reverse transfer before knitting the final courseto complete the welt by transferring both sets of needles from theirrespective cylinder to the respective opposite cylinders. The saidmechanism may comprise bolt or switch cams in cam boxes of the oppositecylinders to co-operate with knitting butts on the needle sliders foreffecting tucking when required, additional butts on certain of theupper needle sliders and additional bolt lowering cams to co-operatewith such additional butts to bring the sliders influenced by saidlowering cams into a range of action for transfer of the needles, andmeans for operating such bolt cams at appropriate times. For a purposementioned later the additional butts which may be at a higher level thanthe normal transfer butts on the upper sliders are preferably arrangedat two different levels to co-operate respectively with bolt loweringcams at corresponding levels.

To illustrate more particularly the improvements in accordance with theinvention reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings inwhich,

FIGURE 1 shows the unrelaxed form of fabric structure of a normal weltas commonly provided on mens socks,

FIGURE 2 shows the unrelaxed fabric structure of the improved formofwelt,

FIGURES 3 and 4 are respectively developed views of the bottom and topcam systems of an opposed cylinder knitting machine as viewed frominside the cam boxes to illustrate the formation of an improved normalwelt, and,

FIGURES 5 and 6 are views corresponding to FIG- URES 3 and 4respectively illustrating the formation of an improved reverse welt.

In the structure shown in FIGURE 1 the initial course of the welt isindicated at it? and comprises normal loops 11 in plain needle Wales 12of a 1 x 1 rib structure and held loops form long loops 13 in the ribWales 14. There are then knitted four courses 15 in each of which normalknitting occurs in the plain wales 12 whilst the rib needles miss theyarn leaving floats 1561. This is followed by a normal course of 1 x 1rib knitting indicated at 16. When this fabric relaxes and is subjectedto widthwise stretch holes or apertures are liable to appear and remainin the fabric inthe region of the wales 14 at the courses 16.

In contrast to the known construction of FIGURE 1,

the improved welt fabric of the invention commences as before with acourse 17, FIGURE 2, as for 1 x 1 rib having normal plain loops 18 andheld loops forming long loops 19 in the rib wales. Then follows a course20 in which normal knitting occurs in the wales 12 and the rib needlesare brought to tucking height and receive the yarn to form tuck loops21. These remain on the needles with the held loops 19 Whilst threefurther courses of knitting indicated at 22 are performed, the yarnbeing missed by the rib-needles and forming floats 22a. At this stage areverse transfer of the needles takes place in which needles previouslyin the rib cylinder are transferred to the plain cylinder and needlespreviously in the plain cylinder are transferred to the rib cylinder. Anormal course of l x 1 rib knitting indicated at 23 is then formed tocomplete the welt with both sets of needles taking and knitting theyarn. A normal 1 x 1 rib top can then follow without any furthertransference of needles.

The welt structure of FIGURES 1 and 2 are normal welts as used for halfhose without turn down tops. For what are known as reverse welts used inhose having turn down tops the needle action is, so to speak, invertedby causing the rib needles to knit normally while the action of theplain or bottom cylinder needles is modified to form the long held loopsand in the present improvement the tuck loops and at other times to missthe yarn.

A welt structure as in FIGURE 2 is knitted on a circular knittingmachine of the opposed co-axial needle cylinder type equipped withneedle transfer mechanism and organised to perform continuous rotaryknitting at some times and to and fro oscillatory knitting at others. Inapplying the invention to a rotary cylinder machine of this kind toadapt it to make either a normal Welt or a reverse welt at will, the topcylinder and bottom cylinder cam boxes are fitted respectively with abolt cam moveable in and out and a swing cam pivotally moveable up anddown for co-operation with the knitting butts on the top and bottomneedles sliders so as to divert them when required to tucking height fordrawing the tuck loops of the welt structure. The operation of thesecams to introduce them into action need be critically timed, but theirwithdrawal from actuation needs to be timed accurately at the completionof a course and this can be arranged by actuating them throughcollapsible strut members or props and releasing the props by accuratelytimed cams on a shaft driven in suitable speed relation to thecylinders.

FIGURES 3 to 6 illustrate somewhat diagrammatically the modifiedarrangement of the bottom and top cam boxes of an opposed cylindercircular knitting machine having two knitting stations and equipped withbottom and top needle sliders indicated at BS and TS respectively inthese figures. The machine is of the known type organised for transferof needles in accordance with patterning requirements between the bottomand top cylinders, each needle on being transferred being passed fromone to the other of its bottom sliders BS and top sliders TS. Eachbottom slider BS has a knitting butt 24 and transfer butt 25. Thesliders BS are set up in the bottom cylinder in known manner so that onegroup extending about half way round the cylinder is equipped with longknitting butts 24 and the sliders in the remaining group have shortknitting butts. Further the sliders BS have transfer butts 25 ofdifferent heights and they are set up in the tricks also so thatalternate transfer butts 25 are of medium height and the interveningbutts are short ones. Similarly the top cylinder sliders TS haveknitting butts 26 which are arranged in two groups of long and shortbutts respectively and transfer butts 27 of different heights normallyset out in alternate short groups of different heights for use in makinga selection for knitting a broad rib structure.

The bottom sliders are controlled by the cam system in FIGURE 3 which itwill be noted comprises bolt cams 28, 29 and 34 and also a swing cam 31.The upper sliders TS have their movements controlled by the cam systemshown in FIGURE 4 which it will be noted comprises bolt cams 32, 33 and34, a stitch cam 35 and a cam 36 which moves sliders TS carrying needlesto tucking height. In addition the top cam system comprises a bolt cam37 and slide bolt cams 38 and 39. The latter co-operate with saw teethbutts 40 and 41 provided additionally on certain of the top sliders TSat their upper ends, butts 40 being provided on alternate ones of thetop sliders TS which have short knitting butts 26, and butts 41 beingprovided on alternate ones of the top sliders TS which have longknitting butts 26.

The control of the needles in the making of an improved normal welt, forexample for a mans sock, will now be explained, it being noted that theslider butts move in the direction from right to left along the camtracks as seen in FIGURES 3 to 6. Assuming that a plain course has beenknitted and the welt is about to commence, the 1 X 1 transfer forknitting of the welt is caused to occur by inserting bolt cams 29 and 30to a midway position so that the sliders BS with longer knitting butts24 will be picked up as a group by cam 29 and be raised thereby to bringthe transfer butts 25 to the level of cam 30. Sliders BS having shortbutts 25 will miss cam 30 but the alternate ones having medium transferbutts will be raised by this cam and caused to transfer their needles tothe upper cylinder. Whilst the group of sliders having long knittingbutts 24 is being raised by cam 29 this cam is inserted to its fullestextent so as then to encounter and raise the sliders having shortknitting butts 24 and cause alternate ones of them to be raised byengagement of their transfer butts 25 with cam 30 and complete thetransfer of alternate needles to the top cylinder. During the knittingof the welt, bolt cam 28 is withdrawn and the bottom cylinder sliders BShave their knitting butts 24 moving along a track indicated by thedotted line 42. The top cylinder sliders TS meantime are caused toremain with their knitting butts 26 following the welt track indicatedby the dotted line at 43, bolt cams 32 and 33 being withdrawn.

As the alternate needles are transferred to the top cylinder in theregion of cam 30 they of course each carry a previously formed loop. Atthe commencement of their transfer bolt cam 34 is inserted causing thesliders TS to be deflected down the cam 36 to bring the needles now inalternate sliders to tucking height so that at the next knitting stationeach of the top cylinder needles will receive the yarn but not cleartheir previous loop and will then become diverted up the cam 35. Thusthe course is formed containing the tuck loops 21 of FIG- URE 2 onneedles in the top cylinder. As soon as this course is completed thebolt cam 34 is withdrawn so that the butts 26 of top slider-s TScontinue along the track part 43b, instead of being lowered to the trackpart 43a. Knitting is continued for three courses after which it isrequired that a reverse transfer be made by transfer up of bottomcylinder needles and transfer down of top cylinder needles originallybrought up by the initial 1 x 1 transfer.

To bring about the reverse transfer of needles bolt cam 30 is insertedfully and cam 29 which was withdrawn after the initial transfer is againpartially inserted to encounter and divert upwardly long knitting butts24 on sliders BS. At this time all the transfer butts 25 on the slidershaving long knitting butts 24 will be raised and while the long butts 24are riding up cam 29 the latter is fully inserted so as to dealsimilarly with all the short butts 24 on the second group of sliders BS.All the sliders BS are as a consequence raised to transfer height, thosehaving needles being caused to transfer them to the top cylinder andthose without needles being raised to receive their needles on transferdown from the top cylinder. Just before the reverse transfer all topcylinder sliders have their knitting butts 26 following track 43,

4312. To effect the transfer down of needles from the'top cylinder thebolt cam 33, FIGURE 4, is partially inserted during the passage of shortbutts 26 so that the long butts 26 will all ride down cam 33 and whilstthey are doing so the cam is fully inserted to engage all short butts 26subsequently. The top sliders TS are thus all brought down by cam 33 sothat alternate sliders TS without needles are in position to receiveupwardly transferred needles and the remaining sliders TS carryingneedles lower them into position for transfer downwardly. For a shortinterval following upward transfer of needles in the region of cam 30,FIGURE 3, all needles will be in the top cylinder, and in order totransfer down the alternate needles originally transferred up, theseneedles must be selected to separate them from those which have justbeen transferred up. The transfer butts 2'7 of the top sliders TS beingnormally set out in abroad'rib pattern cannot be used for selection ofalternate sliders and it is for this reason that the additional sawtooth butts 4th, 41, are provided on the top sliders TS.

As the bolt cam 33, FIGURE 4, is partially inserted the bolt cam slide39 is fully inserted and has its top end just below the level of thetransfer butts 27 of top sliders whereof the knitting butts are runningin the welt track 43. When the sliders having long knitting butts 26 arelowered by cam 33 the alternate ones having the saw tooth butts 41 willbe further lowered by engagement of the saw tooth butts with the boltcam slide 39 causing the needles carried by said sliders to betransferred to the bottom cylinder. While the sliders having longknitting butts 26 are passing down cam 33 the latter is fully insertedand so also is the bolt cam slide 38. Thus the sliders having shortknitting butts 26 are lowered by cam 33 and alternate ones have theirsaw tooth butts 40 brought into engagement with cam slide 38 by whichthe sliders are lowered to transfer the needles T bus the reversetransfer of the needles is completed and with the needles thustransferred knitting continues to form a l x 1 rib top.

The procedure in producing an improved reverse welt will now beexplained with reference to FIGURES 5 and 6 of the drawings. It will benoted that in addition to cams previously mentioned FIGURE 5 shows boltcams at 44 and 45 a raising cam 46 and a stitch cam 47. FIG- URE 6 showsadditionally a bolt cam 48. At the commencenient of a reverse weltalternate needles are transferred to the top cylinder whilst theremainder stay in the bottom cylinder and the needle butts 26 of the topsliders are caused to follow the track indicated at 49 in FIGURE 6, thebolt cams 32 and 48 being withdrawn. The bottom cylinder sliders havetheir knitting butts 24 tracking in the reverse welt track indicated bya dotted line at in FIGURE 5, the bolt cams 44 and 45 being withdrawn.When the butts 24 of the bottom sliders BS reach the cam 46 they areraised momentarily so that those carrying needles cause their latches toopen after which they are again raised to tucking height by the swivelcam 31 which has been propped in its raised position as shown in fulllines. The bottom cylinder needles on alternate sliders BS willinitially hold loops from the preceding course and on reaching the cam31 they are raised to tucking height to take the yarn so that they willthen hold at tucking height, being then lowered by engagement of thestitch cam 47 with the knitting butts 24. After all the needles in thebottom cylinder have tucked once at the swivel cam 31 the prop of thecam is removed so that it falls to the dotted line position and threefurther courses are knitted on needles in the top cylinder whilst theneedles in the bottom cylinder miss the yarn by passing at all times attoo low a level to receive yarn, including the low track portion 50ashown on the left of FIGURE 5. At the end of the three courses justreferred to a reverse transfer of needles is caused to occur.

The reverse transfer takes place in the following manner. On completionof the last three courses of the welt the bolt cams 2.9 and 30 areinserted fully and the bolt cam 44 is inserted partially whilst the longknitting butts 24 are on their way towards it. All long knitting butts24 will then ride up cam 44 and pass along a raised cam track 51, thecam 44 being meanwhile inserted fully so that all short knitting butts24 will follow the long butts along the raised track causing all bottomsliders BS to be raised. All butts 24 are then raised further by boltcam 29 causing all transfer butts 25 to be raised by'cam 39 therebytransferring needles on alternate bottom sliders BS to the top cylinder.

The knitting butts 26 of the top sliders TS will at this time befollowing track 49, FIGURE 6, and whilst the short knitting butts arepassing the transfer region bolt cam slide 39 is inserted. As alternatesliders with short knitting butts have saw tooth butts 40 at the higherlevel these butts will pass above the cam slide 39. When the slidershaving long knitting butts 26 reach the cam slide 39 the saw tooth butts41 on alternate ones of these sliders will engage the cam slide 39 andbe lowered so as to lower the respective sliders and cause theirtransfer butts 27 to engage bolt cam 37 which will have been fullyinserted. Bolt cam 37 will move the sliders downwardly and transfer theneedles on alternate sliders (which were moved up by the initial '1 x 1transfer) down to the bottom cylinder. Meantime bolt cam slide 38 isinserted so that when the sliders having short knitting butts 26 reachit the saw tooth butts 40 on alternate ones of these sliders will movedown cam slide 38 and cause their sliders to be lowered still further byengagement of their transfer butts 2'7 with cam 37. This will cause thedown transfer of needles on the alternate top sliders having shortknitting butts 2d thereby completing the reverse transfer operation.

The purpose for which the additional saw tooth butts 40 and 41 areprovided at different levels on the top sliders TS is to ensure accuracyin the transfer of needles downwardly from the top cylinder commencingat a specific needle, it being found most convenient (particularly witha machine equipped for knitting both a reverse and a normal welt) toprovide that the saw tooth butts at one level are first engaged andmoved down by one slide cam whilst the others can pass the slide camduring its inward movement, the second slide cambeing caused to moveinto position to engage the other set of tooth butts whilst the sliderscarrying the first set of saw tooth butts are being lowered.

What I claim is:

1. In an article of hose, an anti-ravel welt formed by a group ofsuccessive courses of l x 1 rib fabric in which alternate wales knittedby needles of the same needle bed have held loops formed in the courseat the outer edge of the welt and tuck loops formed in a more inwardcourse of said group of courses, said held loops and tuck loop beingknitted on to oppositely facing loops of a course at the inner edge ofthe welt.

2. In an article of hose, an anti-ravel welt according to claim 1wherein the tuck loops are formed in the course immediately adjacent tothat in which the held loops are formed.

3. In an article of hose, an anti-ravel welt formed by a group ofsuccessive courses of l x l rib fabric in which the wales of onealternate set each have held loops formed in the course at the outeredge of the welt and tuck loops formed in a more inward course of thewelt formed by a course of knitting in which the welt and tuck loops areknitted and the loops in intervening wales are also knitted and in whichevery loop is caused to face oppositely to the next outward loop in thesame Wale.

4. In an article of hose, an anti-ravel welt formed of a group ofsuccessive courses of 1 X 1 rib fabric in which alternate wales havingloops facing in the same direction have held loops formed in the courseat the outer edge of the welt and extending over more than twosubsequent courses of said successive courses and also a tuck loopformed in one of the courses over which the held loops extend and floatsformed in the remainder of said successive courses, and having the saidheld loops and tuck loopsknitted on to oppositely facing loops in acourse at the inner edge of the welt.

5. The method of knitting an anti-ravel welt on a circular knittingmachine of the opposed co-axial needle cylinder type, comprising thesteps of knitting an initial welt course on needles set out as forknitting 1 x 1 rib fabric, knitting a plurality of subsequent courses inwhich the needles of one cylinder form normal knitted loops and theneedles of the other cylinder whilst holding their initial loops formtuck loops in at least one course and miss the yarn in the remainder ofsuch subsequent courses, then effecting a transference of needles inwhich those needles carrying tuck loops are all transferred to theopposite cylinder, and performing courses of normal knitting on all ofthe needles.

6. A method according to claim 5 wherein the transference of needlesconsists of a reverse transfer in which the needles other than thosecarrying tuck loops are also transferred from one cylinder to the other.

7. A method according to claim 5 wherein the tuck loops are formed inthe course next following the initial welt course.

No references cited.

1. IN AN ARTICLE OF HOSE, AN ANTI-RAVEL WELT FORMED BY A GROUP OFSUCCESSIVE COURSES OF 1 X 1 RIB FABRIC IN WHICH ALTERNATE WALES KNITTEDBY NEEDLES OF THE SAME NEEDLE BED HAVE HELD LOOPS FORMED IN THE COURSEAT THE OUTER EDGE OF THE WELT AND TRUCK LOOPS FORMED IN A MORE INWARDCOURSE OF SAID GROUP OF COURSES, SAID HELD LOOPS AND TUCK LOOP BEINGKNITTED ON TO OPPOSITELY FACING LOOPS OF A COURSE AT THE INNER EDGE OFTHE WELT.